Cummins Inc. (maker of internal combustion engines, oh sweet irony) employees have shown that a few simple actions can make a meaningful environmental difference through their performance on the Company’s first “Unplugged Challenge.”

Cummins employees were challenged to improve shutdown procedures for electrical equipment over the recent Christmas holiday period to see how much money and energy the Company could save. Their efforts yielded a savings of $908,710, compared to the same period during the holiday shutdown last year – or more than 7,000 tons of carbon dioxide that was not released into the atmosphere.

First off, holy crap! Your company saved a million dollars just by changing the way you shut down your equipment!?! I wonder how many more millions of dollars in savings are sitting around at places simply because they have “always done it this way” or “that light always stays on.”

Fifty-four Cummins sites across the world representing 90 percent of the Company’s energy use participated in the Unplugged Challenge.

“Results from our Unplugged Challenge exceeded all expectations, thanks to an extraordinary participation level across every business unit,” said Tina Vujovich, Vice President of Marketing and Environmental Policy. “Employees were diligent in doing both the small actions that can really add up and creative in applying new procedures to save energy. The challenge produced outstanding results and set the bar high for future efforts.”

The Unplugged Challenge asked employees to examine power-down procedures for ways to save both money and energy. Teams used sign templates to identify powered-down systems and documented the steps for restoring operation. Systems were set at minimal levels that would safeguard against freezing damage or problems upon startup. Employees also did sweeps on the first shutdown day to ensure lights and electronics were turned off.

If you work for a giant multinational corporation, perhaps your next raise/promotion could be based on the fact that you saved your company a million dollars and reduced your companies carbon footprint by a whole bunch. In these hard economic times that sort of savings is more valuable than ever.